Cobalt moves like stock market
2006-11-21 09:52:50 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 21 Nov 06 – After a busy opening of the week, BHP moved up its 99.8%min cobalt cathode price from USD18.0/lb to USD21.0/lb after five sales to European consumers, and some participants feel the current cobalt price is moving like the stock, and doubt if the upward trend will last long.
A European trader informed Asian Metal that he had received many demand last week, but all in small volumes. According to him, most deals he concluded were about 1-2 tonnes at the price of USD16.90-17.20/lb for the 99.6%min cobalt ingot.
“Price is going up fast; I just hope it doesn’t crash like some of the stocks.” The trader revealed that the price was at around USD15.00-15.50/lb at the beginning of last week, but was close to USD17.00/lb at the end of the week.
The viewpoint was shared by many others; somehow, there are market participants holding opposite opinions.
An official from a worldwide supplier told Asian Metal that he feels the current cobalt market is very strange in the last two weeks, “I had not seen strong demand in the market but both BHP and Norilsk are claiming there are more sales.”
Revealing having enough material to offer in the market, the source would be glad to see more demand coming into the market. However, he thinks there are some people buying at higher prices deliberately when there is not enough real demand.
The official expects the price of the 99.8%min cobalt cathode would drop back to the range of USD15.0-16.0/lb before the end of the year and demand would remain regular.
A European trader informed Asian Metal that he had received many demand last week, but all in small volumes. According to him, most deals he concluded were about 1-2 tonnes at the price of USD16.90-17.20/lb for the 99.6%min cobalt ingot.
“Price is going up fast; I just hope it doesn’t crash like some of the stocks.” The trader revealed that the price was at around USD15.00-15.50/lb at the beginning of last week, but was close to USD17.00/lb at the end of the week.
The viewpoint was shared by many others; somehow, there are market participants holding opposite opinions.
An official from a worldwide supplier told Asian Metal that he feels the current cobalt market is very strange in the last two weeks, “I had not seen strong demand in the market but both BHP and Norilsk are claiming there are more sales.”
Revealing having enough material to offer in the market, the source would be glad to see more demand coming into the market. However, he thinks there are some people buying at higher prices deliberately when there is not enough real demand.
The official expects the price of the 99.8%min cobalt cathode would drop back to the range of USD15.0-16.0/lb before the end of the year and demand would remain regular.
